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  • From: JimStinehart AT aol.com
  • To: George.Athas AT moore.edu.au, b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] Exodus 34: 22: TQWPT H-$NH
  • Date: Wed, 18 Jan 2012 10:11:16 -0500 (EST)


Prof. George Athas wrote: “This resubmission does not further the argument
in any way. It simply rehashes what was proposed before: surmise and
opinion, rather than real Ancient Near East evidence warranting a
reconsideration.


The let’s ask if we can understand all 37 numbers in the Patriarchal
narratives that use $NH if and only if we consider the two meanings of the
Hebrew
noun $NH.

First let’s see why there need to be two different meanings of $NH in this
text. Pharaoh dreams of 7 fat cows followed by 7 sickly cows, which Joseph
correctly interprets as foretelling 7 feast $NH followed by 7 famine $NH.
Genesis 41: 26-31. Those $NH must be “years” (periods of 12 months),
because Pharaoh dreamed in terms of Egyptian years, not in terms of the
harvest
seasons in Canaan. [All periods of time in Egypt, but not stated ages of
people, that are directly connected with Pharaoh’s dream of 7 fat cows and 7
sickly cows will similarly be expressed in Genesis in terms of $NH/years, not
$NH/equinoxes.]

But when Joseph is stated to be 30 $NH at the time he made that grand
divination [Genesis 41: 46], Joseph’s age is being stated in terms of the
vernal
and autumnal “equinoxes”, not “years”, because the original, archaic
meaning of $NH to the Hebrews was “change” or “changes-of-seasons”,
reflecting
Canaan’s two harvest seasons. Although Joseph spends most of his life in
Egypt, nevertheless his heart was always in Canaan, where barley was
harvested
in April, and grapes, olives, figs and pomegranates were gathered in
September, at the approximate times of the equinoxes. So Joseph, having
witnessed
30 $NH/equinoxes, is age 15 years.

The Hebrew noun $NH is the same in both cases, but depending on the
particular context, $NH has two different meanings: “years” vs. “equinoxes”.

Now let’s see if we can prove this analysis mathematically, as the key to
understanding all 37 numbers in the last 40 chapters of Genesis that use $NH.

1. Joseph predicts that beginning next year [1 year from now, per Genesis
41: 29], there will be 7 $NH/years of feast, followed by 7 $NH/years of
famine. We are later told that Jacob leads all the Hebrews into Egypt to
avoid
starvation in Canaan after 2 $NH/years of those terrible famine years, and
we are twice told that there are 5 $NH/years left of the famine years.
Genesis 45: 6, 11. So 10 years after Joseph makes his famous divination,
Jacob
leads all the Hebrews into Egypt, computed as follows: 1 + 7 + 2 = 10.
Beginning next year = 1. 7 feast years = 7. The first 2 famine years = 2.

2. Thus Joseph can be computed to be age 25 years when his father leads
all the Hebrews into Egypt. Joseph was age 15 years when he made his
divination [having witnessed 30 $NH/equinoxes]. Per #1, it is10 years later
when
Jacob leads the Hebrews to Egypt. 15 + 10 = 25.

3. Jacob is age 65 years when he enters Egypt. Jacob has witnessed 130
$NH/equinoxes [Genesis 47: 9], so he’s age 65.

4. Per #3 and #2, being the ages of Joseph and Jacob when Jacob leads all
the Hebrews into Egypt, Jacob is 40 years older than Joseph. 65 – 25 = 40.
Thus we know that Jacob sired Joseph at age 40 years.

5. Jacob is born in Year 80, that is, when Abraham is age 80 years,
computed as follows. Isaac is born after Abraham has witnessed 100
$NH/equinoxes
[Genesis 21: 5], so that’s Year 50 [when Abraham is age 50 years]. Isaac
sires Jacob after Isaac has witnessed 60 $NH/equinoxes [Genesis 25: 26],
which
is 30 years later. 50 + 30 = 80. So Jacob is born in Year 80.

6. Jacob sires Joseph at age 40 years [per #4]. Since Jacob was born in
Year 80, Joseph was born in Year 120. 80 + 40 = 120.

7. Joseph is age 15 years when he makes his famous interpretation of
Pharaoh’s dreams. We can readily compute that Joseph makes his famous
divination
in Year 135 [that is, 135 years after Abraham’s birth, though Abraham is no
longer living], since [per #6] Joseph was born in Year 120. 120 + 15 = 135.

8. 10 years later, Jacob leads all the Hebrews into Egypt [per #1], so that
’s Year 145. 135 + 10 = 145.

9. In Year 145, when Jacob leads all the Hebrews into Egypt [per #8],
Jacob is age 65 [per #3], and we also know that Jacob was born in Year 80
[per
#5]. 80 + 65 = 145. Eureka! Everything checks out perfectly. Note how the
stated ages of Hebrews [in this post, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Joseph, but
also applying elsewhere to Terah, Sarah and Esau as well], expressed in
$NH/equinoxes [per the harvest seasons in the Hebrews’ beloved Canaan],
dovetail perfectly with stated periods of time in Egypt that relate to
Pharaoh’s
dream of 7 fat cows and 7 sickly cows, expressed in terms of $NH/years [since
Pharaoh thought and dreamed in terms of Egyptian years, not in terms of the
harvest seasons of Canaan]. That’s the genius of the Patriarchal narratives.

10. Per #7, Joseph makes his famous divination in Year 135. The 7 feast
$NH/years are the next 7 years, being Years 136-142 inclusive. [Counting all
of Year 136 and all of Year 142, that’s 7 full years.] The 7 famine
$NH/years are then Years 143-149. Jacob leads all the Hebrews into Egypt
after
the first 2 famine years. That’s Year 145. 143 + 2 = 145. That checks out
perfectly with #9.

All 37 numbers in the Patriarchal narratives that use $NH make perfect
sense on all levels. All 37 numbers fit into an internal timeline of the
Patriarchal narratives that is fully coherent to a fault, and no one is older
than
would be realistically expected in the ancient world, once we understand
how the Hebrew noun $NH is being used in two different senses in the last 40
chapters of Genesis, depending on the context.

Or we can go with the scholarly view: "The over-all chronological scheme
[of the Patriarchal narratives] remains obscure." E.A. Speiser, “The Anchor
Bible: Genesis”, (1962), p. 126. "[P]rodigious life spans [are] attributed
to the Patriarchs.” John J. Collins, “Introduction to the Hebrew Bible”
(2004), at p. 84.

Isn’t the choice clear? Doesn’t the ability to explain, for the first
time, all 37 numbers in the Patriarchal narratives that use $NH constitute “
real Ancient Near East evidence warranting a reconsideration”? It’s simply a
question of focusing on the original, archaic meaning of the Hebrew noun
$NH: “change”, implying in the context of time, “changes-of-seasons”, and as
such further implying in the context of Canaan for the first Hebrews, per
the harvest seasons, “equinoxes”, but otherwise having the acquired meaning,
for example in the context of Egypt [and for later Hebrews generally], of “
years”.

The key to understanding the Patriarchal narratives is the Hebrew
linguistics issue of focusing on the two different meanings of the Hebrew
noun $NH: “
change”/“changes-of-seasons”/“equinoxes” vs. “years”.

Jim Stinehart
Evanston, Illinois




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